Summary:
This book invites congregations to learn communal forms of biblical
interpretation through which to implement practices of discernment
offering guidance amid today’s challenging ethical and theological
riddles.

“How
timely it is in the hurly burly fractiousness of our times for Ervin
Stutzman . . . to lift up the core practice of discernment for all to
consider afresh.”—Sara Wenger Shenk, President, Anabaptist Mennonite
Biblical Seminary, in the Foreword

Excerpts from the Responses Chapter

“Stutzman
proposes that the contemporary church, faced with difficult decisions
about moral and practical issues, can learn from the long tradition of
communal discernment and biblical interpretation that goes hand-in-hand
with the Anabaptist understanding of the congregation as a voluntary
community of believers. . . .” —Sally
Weaver Glick, Author, In Tune with God: The Art of
Congregational Discernment

“Every
community of faith has to wrestle the understanding and application of
biblical interpretation for faithfulness in the present moment. Ervin
Stutzman is envisioning an increased role of congregational discernment
as one of the tools of faithful hermeneutics in the Anabaptist
tradition. He explicates the role and complexities of group discernment
well and provides a rich treasure trove of insights and information.” —Jan Wood, Author (with Lon
Fendall and Bruce Bishop) of Practicing Discernment
Together: Finding God’s Way Forward in Decision Making

"While
the Constantinian model of Christianity requires an assembled hierarchy
and sameness of belief and practice, the early church and the
Anabaptist movement both embraced local expressions and diversity of
practice. Genuine discernment in the future will require not only the
theology and tools that Stutzman carefully develops but also a firm
rejection of Constantinian models of monolithic decision-making." —David
Brubaker, Associate Professor of Organizational Studies at the Center
for Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University

Market: Discussion
groups, students, church libraries, pastors, congregational leaders;
anyone interested in an indepth yet accessible guide to the theory and
practice of biblical interpretation and its contributions to
discernment from an Anabaptist-Mennonite and free church perspective.

The Author:
Ervin R. Stutzman, Harrisonburg, Virginia, is Executive Director,
Mennonite Church USA and was previously Dean, Eastern Mennonite
Seminary . He is author of From
Nonresistance to Justice: The Transformation of Mennonite Church Peace
Rhetoric, 1908-2008 (Herald Press, 2011) and of several
other books, including Tobias
and Emma.